The field of the present invention is automated ticket processing apparatus, and more particularly, apparatus for printing and/or validating tickets used by commercial airlines and the like.
Ticket processing mechanisms have been used in a variety of applications. For example, apparatus for gaming include ticket terminals for moving a ticket through various stages of issue processing. The DM-4D Data Mark ticket issuing terminal, manufactured and sold by the assignee of this patent application, includes a ticket advancing mechanism having a pair of spaced-apart, parallel ticket rollers which move a ticket in a figure-eight configuration for processing on both sides of the ticket. By processing is meant reading, writing or printing information on one or more faces of a ticket. The ticket advancing mechanism of another Data Mark terminal can be understood by reference to U.S. Pat. No. 4,677,553, which is assigned to the assignee of the subject patent application and incorporated herein by reference. A still further ticket advancing mechanism for moving a ticket through various stages of processing in a single circular ticket guide is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,704,518, which is also assigned to the assignee of the subject patent application and incorporated herein by reference.
Other mechanisms for processing documents such as tickets are exemplified in apparatus which propel a ticket along an essentially linear pathway which is branched near its terminal to provide separate channels for issuing or impounding a ticket. Such branching is represented by U.S. Pat. No. 4,164,649. Ticket issuing apparatus used for printing and/or validating commercial air carrier tickets and itinerary have been of this sort. In general, such ticket processing equipment requires the provision of a linear ticket path, branches in the path, and a sequence of reciprocating mechanisms distributed along the path to propel a ticket through the path and into any of its branches. It will be appreciated that such an architecture results in an elongated ticket processing apparatus which occupies an amount of space proportional to the length of the path. Further, the plethora of driving mechanisms requires a complex electro-mechanical control mechanization to orchestrate the operations of the driving mechanisms.
An effort to minimize ticket processing path length in a ticket processing terminal is represented by the DM-4 Data Mark terminal of the assignee. The DM-4 terminal is especially significant in that the figure-eight ticket pathway permits processing on both sides of a ticket in a relatively compact configuration. Another effort to minimize ticket processing path length in a ticket processing terminal is represented by the above-mentioned U.S. Pat. No., 4,704,518.
These ticket processing terminals are adequate for their respective purposes, but may not be optimal where it is required to write information to, read information from and print information to a ticket as part of a revalidation and/or ticket issuing process as practiced by commercial airlines.
Commercial air carriers may also be expected to use coded ticket stock to prevent fabrication of counterfeit tickets. Each ticket will have a stock control number encoded thereon which a ticket processing apparatus will read and send to an airline computerized reservation system. This will require an additional ticket reading step and a lengthening of ticket processing time depending on the configuration of the ticket path. Minimum path length and rapid ticket throughput will thus become even more important.
Therefore, there is an evident need for a ticket issuing and validation apparatus with a configuration which minimizes the space required for movement of a ticket undergoing processing, yet which permits the apparatus to effectively read, write and print information on a ticket pursuant to a ticket validation and/or issuing process.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a compact, yet multifunctional, ticket issuing and validation apparatus.